Anyone Cold Without Gas?


christo930

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The gas shortage has been in the news for weeks and I know there are lot of users from Europe and I was wondering if any of you guys have been affected by the gas shutoff from Russia. If so, what has it been like and have alternatives been readily available? Do petrol stations sell Kerosene and are Kerosene heaters available? Electric space heaters? Just wondering. It's a stark reminder of how reliant we are on Fossil Fuels and what life without them is like.


Chris
 
My house is heated by electric, but I'm thinking probably the power station uses gas as the coal ones seem to be in a minority now, so that might not be a long term choice if things carry on the way they are going.

I've seen Kerosene heaters around, most of them smell pretty bad if you leave the house and re-enter later on, but are not that bad if you remain inside (unless its faulty of course).
 
The Netherlands (above Belgium, next to Germany) has some of their own gas-reserves but it is true that a large part of western Europe - including the netherlands - relies on Russian gas to some extend.
Eastern European countries have been affected far worse and people weren't able to heat their houses properly.
 
I think another layer of clothing should short out the heating problem. Saves money and energy. Everytime I go to the in-laws house it seems like the tropics and will have to strip down to shorts and t-shirt. Everytime I suggest to put on a jumper if they are cold then I just get a funny look as if I've gone mad. :unsure:
 
Tag5 said:
I think another layer of clothing should short out the heating problem. Saves money and energy. Everytime I go to the in-laws house it seems like the tropics and will have to strip down to shorts and t-shirt. Everytime I suggest to put on a jumper if they are cold then I just get a funny look as if I've gone mad. :unsure:

Yes, same here. I'm guilty of that too though, I always walk around in a t-shirt rather than adding another layer. I guess I just wear a t-shirt when at work, so I don't want to add another layer of clothing when I'm at home to save a bit on the heating bill.

Last time I visited my inlaws, there heating was set on 24c, whilst mine is set on 18c.
 
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Squidge said:
Tag5 said:
I think another layer of clothing should short out the heating problem. Saves money and energy. Everytime I go to the in-laws house it seems like the tropics and will have to strip down to shorts and t-shirt. Everytime I suggest to put on a jumper if they are cold then I just get a funny look as if I've gone mad. :unsure:

Yes, same here. I'm guilty of that too though, I always walk around in a t-shirt rather than adding another layer. I guess I just wear a t-shirt when at work, so I don't want to add another layer of clothing when I'm at home to save a bit on the heating bill.

Last time I visited my inlaws, there heating was set on 24c, whilst mine is set on 18c.
I keep my thermostat between 66-68, once in a while my wife will turn up the heat to 70 and within an hour I'm sweating. I like it cool, I'd much rather put on a sweater then have to take something off. I love sleeping in the cool as well, I turn down my thermostat to 60 at night and snuggle up in the blankets. I go into my bedroom and it's so cool and I get under the covers and within a few minutes I'm warm.

During the summer if I don't run my air I lay on bed with no blankets or sheets and can't fall asleep (although it does sometimes get cool at night and I just turn on the fan).

My mom always turned down the thermostat when I was growing up because she didn't want to pay the high gas bills, but it got me used being cool and as soon as it gets warm in my house, I go nuts. I guess the gas company hates me, of course the electric company loves me since I usually run the air during the summer. It's just that the summers have gotten so hot and humid (philadelphia, pa usa) compared to 15 years ago. I grew up with no air in my room and was fine, but today I can't do without it.

Chris
 
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As a Russia resident I have no shortage of gas :D
Only reason why sometimes it is cold in my room - my parrots ate almost all the heat-isolating material from window :(
 
Tag5 said:
I think another layer of clothing should short out the heating problem.
At home the inside of the house drops to the same temperature as outside every night (and doesn't heat up very quickly the next day). If only an extra layer of clothing were enough :p.
 
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Orkie said:
Tag5 said:
I think another layer of clothing should short out the heating problem.
At home the inside of the house drops to the same temperature as outside every night (and doesn't heat up very quickly the next day). If only an extra layer of clothing were enough :p.


Why are you so cold in the UK? I didn't think they were affected.


I guess things are pretty much back to normal now for the countries affected by the gas crisis? I should hope this never happens again, especially not in the middle of winter.

Chris
 
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I hope the UK starts to abandon the gas infrastructure now. New houses should be built with electric heat pumps rather than gas - they are cheaper and need much less maintenance and we have one of the best climates for this tech.

In the next 5-10 years the UK will stop exporting fuel and start to import it all as our gas and oil dries up, we really need to be planning for that day - nuclear and heat pump technology is the easy answer, but I also agree we should try to use wave power since we have more coast line than we know what to do with.

I really envy how far ahead of us France is with Nuclear power.
 
craigix said:
I really envy how far ahead of us France is with Nuclear power.
Nuclear power is not the answer to all our problems. It's quite a clean energy but when there is a problem with a nuclear plant it can be very dangerous, and you also have to deal with nuclear wastes and water pollution :(
 
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Magic Sam said:
craigix said:
I really envy how far ahead of us France is with Nuclear power.
Nuclear power is not the answer to all our problems. It's quite a clean energy but when there is a problem with a nuclear plant it can be very dangerous, and you also have to deal with nuclear wastes and water pollution :(

There was something mentioned that can get energy from 90% of that waste... it was on slashdot around a week ago.
 
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If the UK could start using wave power, it would be a good influence to the rest of the world. Nuclear power isn't bad so long as we can build secure storage locations for the waste.
 
Magic Sam said:
craigix said:
I really envy how far ahead of us France is with Nuclear power.
Nuclear power is not the answer to all our problems. It's quite a clean energy but when there is a problem with a nuclear plant it can be very dangerous, and you also have to deal with nuclear wastes and water pollution :(

I myself am a fan of nuclear power, but it is not as clean as you may think it is. The ore is found in very low grades which are mined with diesel powered equipment. FF has had a free ride and people think it's cheaper than it is, because only one side is being dealt with and that is extraction. BUT, if FF had to be clean they would be expensive. For example, the Tar sands would cost many hundreds of dollars a barrel if they were not allowed to just dump slurry into gigantic dead ponds. If they had to actually clean that water then cover up the strip mine with dirt and plant new trees to replace the ones they knocked down then the tar sand oil's real cost would be known. And this problem exists to some degree at just about every oil field in existence. I've seen oil ponds in south america in pristine wilderness. If we could only see how dirty oil (and therefor expensive) oil really is, we'd find an alternative.
 
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Username said:
If the UK could start using wave power, it would be a good influence to the rest of the world. Nuclear power isn't bad so long as we can build secure storage locations for the waste.
Nuke waste has a half-life of tens of thousands of years. There are no containers that will last that long.

Many countries should start taking advantage of that huge free fusion nuclear reactor. The good thing about it is that it is 100% waste free and is available to all countries and no one can keep it to themselves. Yes that reactor is also known as "the sun". With panels on the roof you can get much of your heat and power for free.
 
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A friend of mine works at British Gas, also known as BG Group. I and her often argue if alternative power is viable, ie could you heat your house/water on 'free' energy. She claims not and that BG have many studies showing it does not work.

I think you could get CLOSE to pulling it off with a small amount of electricity from the grid.

I'd go with a ground source heat pump, solar panels, under floor heating, masses of insulation and triple coated glazing. Where I am a wind turbine would give a decent amount of power because it's very high up and exposed (the number of times I have to repair my roof from wind damage is testimony to that!), so I'd also go with one of those too.

Oh and don't forget an open fire.

I'd suspect you could heat the house even in very cold weather with about 300w per hour, and probably under 100w in >1-2 Degrees C. The turbine would contribute to that too. Of course I'm not sure what happens when it snows with those panels... we have had 10 inches of snow for the last 7 days up here...
 
DaveC said:
Username said:
If the UK could start using wave power, it would be a good influence to the rest of the world. Nuclear power isn't bad so long as we can build secure storage locations for the waste.
Nuke waste has a half-life of tens of thousands of years. There are no containers that will last that long.

Many countries should start taking advantage of that huge free fusion nuclear reactor. The good thing about it is that it is 100% waste free and is available to all countries and no one can keep it to themselves. Yes that reactor is also known as "the sun". With panels on the roof you can get much of your heat and power for free.

yes, in a perfect future we will have the ability to not only coat the earth in solar panels but also every other planet to satisfy our power demans

craigix: I know you didn't mean free energy by 'free' energy, but I nearly raged...
 
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